Preparing for the Seder - Zoom Lunch & Learn

Welcome to Our First Getting Ready for Passover Lunch & Learn!
While waiting for others to join the zoom call, read the below mishna, and think of questions you might ask, and jot them down or in the chat.

משנה פסחים י׳:א׳

(א) עַרְבֵי פְסָחִים סָמוּךְ לַמִּנְחָה, לֹא יֹאכַל אָדָם עַד שֶׁתֶּחְשָׁךְ. וַאֲפִלּוּ עָנִי שֶׁבְּיִשְׂרָאֵל לֹא יֹאכַל עַד שֶׁיָּסֵב. וְלֹא יִפְחֲתוּ לוֹ מֵאַרְבַּע כּוֹסוֹת שֶׁל יַיִן, וַאֲפִלּוּ מִן הַתַּמְחוּי:

Mishnah Pesachim 10:1

(1) On the eve of Passover, adjacent to minḥa time, a person may not eat until dark. Even the poorest of Jews should not eat until s/he reclines. And the distributors of charity should not give a poor person less than four cups of wine. And this halakha applies even if the poor person is one of the poorest members of society and receives his food from the charity plate.

Why does one not eat the afternoon before Passover?

רשב"ם על פסחים צ״ט ב:א׳:ב׳

לא יאכל אדם כו' - כדי שיאכל מצה של מצוה לתיאבון משום הידור מצוה:

Rashbam on Pesachim 99b:1:2

...One may not eat: So that he will eat the matzah that was commanded with a hearty appetite, so as to glorify the commandment.

רש"י על פסחים ק״ז א:י״ד:א׳

ומשום פסח - שמא ישב בסעודה וימנע ויפשע מעשות פסח:

Rashi on Pesachim 107a:14:1

...lest one be satiated from the meal and thus refrain from doing the pesach

פסחים ק״ז ב:א׳

וְאָתֵי לְאִימְּנוֹעֵי מִלְּמִיעְבַּד פִּסְחָא. אוֹ דִילְמָא, סָמוּךְ לְמִנְחָה קְטַנָּה תְּנַן — וּמִשּׁוּם מַצָּה, דִּילְמָא אָתֵי לְמֵיכְלַהּ לְמַצָּה אֲכִילָה גַּסָּה.

Pesachim 107b:1

and he will end up refraining from performing the Paschal lamb? Or perhaps we learned this halakha in the mishna as pertaining to the time adjacent to the lesser minḥa, and the reason for the prohibition is due to matza. If one eats shortly before nightfall, perhaps he will come to eat the matza as an act of excessive eating, when one forces himself to eat despite the fact that he has no desire to do so.

At least three reasons given for not eating the afternoon before the seder
1. so that one eats with a good appetite
2. ..one might fail to prepare properly for the holiday/the passover offering!
3. one might come to eat matza gluttonously (when already full)

Additional Background texts and notes below

פסחים צ״ט ב:ב׳

גְּמָ׳ מַאי אִירְיָא עַרְבֵי פְסָחִים? אֲפִילּוּ עַרְבֵי שַׁבָּתוֹת וְיָמִים טוֹבִים נָמֵי. דְּתַנְיָא: לֹא יֹאכַל אָדָם בְּעַרְבֵי שַׁבָּתוֹת וְיָמִים טוֹבִים מִן הַמִּנְחָה וּלְמַעְלָה כְּדֵי שֶׁיִּכָּנֵס לַשַּׁבָּת כְּשֶׁהוּא תַּאֲוָה, דִּבְרֵי רַבִּי יְהוּדָה. רַבִּי יוֹסֵי אוֹמֵר: אוֹכֵל וְהוֹלֵךְ עַד שֶׁתֶּחְשַׁךְ.

Pesachim 99b:2

Why discuss this halakha particularly with regard to the eves of Passover? Even on the eves of Shabbat and other Festivals it is also prohibited to eat in the late afternoon, as it was taught in a baraita: A person should not eat on the eves of Shabbat and Festivals from minḥa time onward, so that he will enter Shabbat when he has a desire to eat and he will enjoy the Shabbat meal; this is the statement of Rabbi Yehuda. Rabbi Yosei says: One may continue eating until dark.

Whoever eats matzah on erev Pesach, it's as though he had relations with his arusah in his father-in-law's home.
(Jerusalem Talmud)

Mishna: "Oral Torah" transmitted orally until written down at end of 2nd C. CE . (130 years after the destruction of the Temple, yet "in the world described by the MIshna the Temple still exists" (MJL article)
Compiled by Rabbi Yehudah haNasi..
A study book of law... "why are the opinions of the minority included alongside the majority even though the law is not like them? So that a later court can examine their words and rely upon them.. Eduyot 1:3]
Gemara (aka "talmud"): Babylonian codified ~ 600CE - interprets and comments on the Mishna. [gmr - 'teaching' in aramaic]. broad and deep. halacha and aggadah. The Other Central Text for Rabbinic Judaism
Rashi 1040-1105 (ie, 11th century scholar, lived in France) - extensive commentary on Torah and Talmud. first among commentaries?
Rambam ("Maimonides" ) 1138-1204 -Sephardic Jewish philosopher (and doctor), influential in Jewish and Islamic circles.(philosophy and science).. born in Cordoba... worked in Morocco and Egypt... died in Egypt, buried in Tiberias

פסחים ק״ז א:י״ד

סָמוּךְ לְמִנְחָה גְּדוֹלָה תְּנַן — וּמִשּׁוּם פֶּסַח, דִּילְמָא אָתֵי לְמִימְּשַׁךְ,

Pesachim 107a:14

The Gemara elaborates: Did we learn in the mishna that it is prohibited to eat adjacent to the time of the greater minḥa, and this is because of the Paschal lamb, lest one come to be drawn after the meal and spend a long time eating, as was typical for large meals,

Navah Levine